“Pro cycling is bigger than Lance” is how I summed up my comments today on Global TV Vancouver’s morning newscast. This has become the biggest story I’ve seen in 11 years of covering the sport, as virtually everyone is talking about Lance Armstrong’s ‘it’s about time’ admission to using banned substances through his career and for all of his seven Tour de France wins.

Yesterday afternoon, still a couple hours ahead of the big Oprah broadcast, I found myself feeling a little anxious wondering just what Lance would say, how he’d present himself, and most importantly, would any of it be believable.

I came away feeling a lot less satisfied than Oprah claimed she was with his responses, and based on emails received at PEZ HQ today, so did a lot of you. Too bad she let him off so easy when it came to explaining his answers – like just what was his version of the 2001 Tour de Suisse positive test / payoff… ?

I suspect tonight’s part 2 of the interview will be more of the same, Lance telling us what we already knew, denying a few things, and not showing any believable humility or remorse. What I did find believable, however, was that his true character is exactly as we’ve witnessed for so many years – that’s sad.

With as much bad press and damage this Lance ordeal has heaped on our sport, I’m for one not giving up, and am honestly looking forward to the 2013 racing season with a renewed energy to cycling, and providing the kind of coverage that this best sport in the world deserves.

Thanks to Global News anchors Sophie Lui and Steve Darling for including PEZ as part of their coverage. This is the third time I’ve been invited on the show since Lance’s empire began to crumble last August – I sincerely hope the next time is to discuss some positive news about cycling.